Italian Citizenship through marriage to an Italian citizen

1. REGULATORY OVERVIEW

The acquisition of Italian citizenship by foreign or stateless spouses who have married Italian citizens since April 27, 1983, is currently governed by Law No. 91 of February 5, 1992 (Articles 5, 6, 7, and 8) and subsequent amendments.

Applications for Italian citizenship may also be submitted by foreign citizens who have established  a civil union with an Italian citizen registered in the civil registry of an Italian municipality (Legislative Decrees 5, 6, and 7/2017).

Foreign spouses/civil partners may acquire Italian citizenship upon application, provided they meet the requirements established by current legislation, as explained in the following sections.

Please note: for marriages that took place before April 27, 1983, please contact the citizenship office by email at cittadinanza.miami@esteri.it , indicating “Marriage before 1983″ in the subject line.

 

General requirements:

• The marriage must already have been registered with a municipality in Italy.
• The couple must have been married for at least three years, but this period is reduced by half if the couple has children (including adopted children);
• The marriage must have remained stable until the granted citizenship, because in the event of separation, divorce, or annulment, naturalization is forfeited. However, the death of the spouse after the submission of the citizenship application does not result in forfeiture of the benefit.
• The spouse/civil partner of Italian nationality must be resident and regularly registered with the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad (A.I.R.E.) of the relevant consular district and living at the same address as the applicant for citizenship. Otherwise, they must provide documentation proving the reason (e.g., work, children’s schooling, medical care, or other) that determines or has determined the need for separate residences.
• The applicant must present proves that he/she does not have any convictions by Italian judicial authorities for crimes punishable by more than three years’ imprisonment, any convictions by foreign judicial authorities to a sentence exceeding one year for non-political crimes; any convictions for crimes against the state or grounds for exclusion on the basis of national security
• Knowledge of the Italian language not lower than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

 

How to submit the application:

• The applicant must submit the application to the diplomatic-consular representation responsible for their residence, exclusively through the appropriate online application. The applicant must register with the Ministry of the Interior at https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it and upload all the required documentation to their individual account.

 

Payment of the fees and charges indicated in the documents and costs section.

3. DOCUMENTS required for citizenship application

• • Birth certificate or equivalent: original, issued no more than six months prior by the country of birth, complete with all personal details (including paternity and maternity), duly legalized/apostilled and translated into Italian.
    The Italian translation must be certified as true by the relevant Embassy/Consulate or legalized with an Apostille. In this regard, it is recommended that you check the relevant instructions published on the websites of the Italian consular offices in the country where the certificate was issued.
    Information on US birth certificates
    The birth certificate must be issued in long form (or extended form) by the competent authorities of the US State of birth and legalized with an Apostille issued in the same state.
  • Criminal records from the country of origin and any third countries of residence (from the age of 14) – except Italy – and from countries of citizenship, in original form, issued no more than six months prior to the submission of the application, duly legalized/apostilled and translated into Italian. The Italian translation of non-US certificates must be certified as conforming to the law by the competent Embassy/Consulate or legalized with an Apostille. Applicants are exempt from submitting a criminal record certificate from their country of origin only if they left that country before the age of 14 and have not retained citizenship.

Please note that persons who have taken their spouse’s last name or otherwise changed their name must request criminal records from the competent offices using their current name, the name on their birth certificate, and any other name by which they are or have been known, using the terms “a.k.a.” or “formerly known as.”
Important US criminal records
For the US, in addition to the criminal record certificate from the state of origin/residence (from the age of 14), the federal criminal record certificate issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, CJIS Division, must also be submitted. The Apostille must be issued by the Department of State in Washington DC and the signature of the FBI officer who signed the certificate must be legalized.

• • Receipt of payment of the €250.00 fee to the Ministry of the Interior. See the “Costs” section for payment methods.
  • Identity document: photocopy of a valid passport (pages with personal details, photograph, date of issue, and expiry date).
  • Full copy of the marriage certificate or extract from the marriage register, to be requested from the competent Italian municipality where the certificate is registered, issued no more than six months prior to the application.
  • Certificate of knowledge of the Italian language not lower than level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Only the following certifications are accepted
    • PLIDA from the Dante Alighieri Society
    • CertIt from Roma Tre University
    • CILS from the University for Foreigners of Siena
    • CELI from the University for Foreigners of Perugia
    • Co.L from the University for Foreigners of Reggio Calabria

Other certifications from the above institutions or other institutions are not eligible and cannot be accepted.
However, the following are not required to submit proof of Italian language proficiency:

• Foreigners (even if residing abroad) who have already signed the integration agreement referred to in Article 4 bis of Legislative Decree No. 286/1998 Consolidated Immigration Act.
• Holders of long-term EU (or EC) residence permits referred to in Article 9 of the same Consolidated Law (even if resident abroad), only if issued by the Italian authorities. Residence permits for family reasons or those issued by other countries are not eligible.
• Those who have obtained a qualification issued by a public or equivalent educational institution recognized by the Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

4. PROCEDURE
5. REGISTRATION AND SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION

Applicants residing abroad must register on the Ministry of the Interior portal (https://portaleservizi.dlci.interno.it/AliCittadinanza/ali/home.htm) without using SPID but with their email address.

Please note, that the email address provided on the portal when submitting the online application constitutes the applicant’s elected domicile (Art. 47 of the Italian Civil Code); it is therefore necessary to check your email frequently, as all communications relating to the citizenship application, including requests for additional documentation, notifications of measures, etc., will be sent ONLY via email.

Applicants are required to enter their details with the utmost care, as these cannot be changed and, in the event of an error, a new registration with a different email address will be required. In particular, the personal details indicated on the birth certificate (including any annotations) and/or in documents issued abroad by the competent foreign authorities (such as marriage certificates, identity documents, name/surname change decrees, etc.) must be reported. In case of discrepancies, the applicant is required to provide appropriate supporting documentation.

All residences must be declared and no periods of time should be left undeclared.

No special characters or symbols (e.g., cedillas, acute or grave accents within words, circumflex accents, etc.) should be included. Only accents on the last letter may be included using an apostrophe, if they also exist in the original language.

Once registered, the applicant can proceed to complete the online application and upload all the required documents on the Ministry of the Interior’s dedicated portal:

Any technical or content-related questions regarding the online application should be addressed directly to the Ministry of the Interior, which has set up a dedicated FAQ and HelpDesk support service. https://portaleserviziapp.dlci.interno.it.

Please note: NOTES FOR COMPLETING THE ONLINE APPLICATION

• • The registration form must include the DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH as indicated on the birth certificate.
  • The PERSONAL DETAILS indicated in documents issued abroad by the competent foreign authorities must be entered. In the event of discrepancies, please ensure that any change of surname and/or first name is noted on the birth certificate or marriage certificate issued abroad, duly legalized and translated into Italian, or produce a declaration of exact personal details, issued by the competent consular authorities of the country of citizenship, present on Italian territory, and legalized by the competent Italian Prefecture;

b – CONSULAR VERIFICATION

The Consular Office will be automatically informed of the submission of the application and will carry out the necessary checks. The applicant will then receive, electronically via the Ministry of the Interior portal, a notification of the acceptance or rejection of their application.

If the application is rejected, it may be resubmitted, taking care to correct the errors indicated in the rejection notice, and any payments already made may be reused if the application is resubmitted within one year.

If the application is accepted, the applicant will be summoned electronically to the diplomatic-consular representation for the authentication of the signature on the citizenship application, for the delivery of all original paper documentation, including that already transmitted electronically via the Portal, and for the collection of the required consular fees.

All the above documentation will be kept in original form by the diplomatic-consular representation, with the exception of the identity document and language certificate, for which a certified copy will be made with the relevant payments.

c – EVALUATION AND TERMS OF THE PROCEDURE

The evaluation of the application and the definition of the procedure are the exclusive responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, within 24 months from the date of submission of the application, extendable up to a maximum of 36 months. If, at the end of the evaluation of the application, the procedure is concluded positively, the Ministry of the Interior will send the decree granting Italian citizenship to the diplomatic-consular representation competent for the residence of the interested party.

d – DECREE, NOTIFICATION, AND OATH

The decree granting Italian citizenship will be notified – via the portal – by means of a communication addressed to the applicant. Upon notification, documents will also be requested to verify the continuation of the marital relationship, with a date subsequent to the decree, such as, for example (non-exhaustive list):

• • Full marriage certificate issued by the competent Italian municipality (not an extract) and corresponding foreign certificate
  • Criminal record certificate from the country of current residence and federal certificate, duly legalized and translated

The documents must be dated after the decree and the oath must be taken within 6 months of the date of notification of the decree.

No later than six months after notification, the interested party will be summoned to the consular offices to take an oath of allegiance to the Republic and its laws. The six-month deadline is mandatory, after which the right to obtain citizenship will be lost.

The acquisition of Italian citizenship will take effect from the day after the oath is taken.

The original birth certificate will be sent for transcription to the relevant Italian municipality together with the application for registration with the AIRE.

5. COSTS

• • A contribution of € 250 to the Ministry of the Interior, to be paid exclusively via PagoPa when completing the application or by bank transfer to the account indicated by the Ministry of the Interior (receipt to be included in the online application), with any expenses to be borne by the person making the transfer:

“Ministry of the Interior D.L.C.I Citizenship”
Bank name: Poste Italiane S.p.A.
IBAN code: IT54D0760103200000000809020
Reason for payment: Application for citizenship by marriage pursuant to Article 5 of Law 91/1992 and name and surname of the applicant
BIC/SWIFT code of Poste Italiane: BPPIITRRXXX (for foreign transfers)
BIC/SWIFT code: PIBPITRA (for EUROGIRO transactions)

Articles of the Consular Fees Table to be applied with relative amounts:

• • Authentication of signature on the application: Art. 24
  • Certified copy of valid identity document and language certification: art. 71 –
  • Certification of the translation of civil status documents and criminal records: Art. 72A

Consular fee: Art. 8